Improvement in gas-regulators for burners



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES e. CURTIS AND GEORGE CURTIS, or BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

IM PROVEMENT IN GAS-REGULATORS FOR BURNERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 72,000, dated January 11, 1876; application filed 7 November 12, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we,,(lHARLEs G. CURTIS and GEORGE OUnrIs, of Bridgeport, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gas-Burners; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of our inventionis to regulate, by valve mechanism, the flow of gas through the tip, whatever the gas-pressure may be in the pipes,'so thata steady and uniform flame is produced at the point of combustion, and the object is also to collect the liquid residuum formed by the combustion of the gas at the tip, and conduct it to a reservoir, from whence it may be removed from time to time as it becomes filled. .lo this end our invention consists of a burner, made in two parts, the upper and lower, and preferably screwed together, with a cavity or chamber therein,con-

taining a pressure-cup, which packs itself against the vertical wall of the cylindrical chamber in which it moves; a regulatingvalve operating in a conical passage to control the flow of gas to the tip; and also a perforated drip-saucer; a guide-tube fitted to slide vertically upon an upright perforated or slotted tube 5 and a residuum-reservoir, all which will be more fully hereinafter explained and set forth.

Figure I is a vertical longitudinal section through the axis of the burner, showing the mechanism, and Fig-1ltis a central vertical section of the pressure-cup.

In the drawings, 0 represents the base of the burner, having a screw-thread in the lower end to attach 1t to the pipe, and provided with an orifice, k, opening into the upright tube '13, in the upper end of which are made the slots or openings n. This part 0 has a cavity in the upper end, which is cylindrical, and has a vertical wall, It, the lower part of said cavity forming the reservoir 2', extending all around thebase of the tube 11; and this part 0 is attached to the upper part A by a screw-thread at B. The guide-tube m is fitted upon the tube t, so as to slide freely up and down thereon, said guide-tube having one or more slots or openings, 0, crossing the openings n in the upper end of the tube z"; and the upper end of this tube m is made of a conical form, with a stem or valve, a, fixed axially at the apex. Secured to this guide-tube m, near the top, is a pressure-cup, F, its open end downward, andmade cylindrical, closely fitting the vertical wall of the chamber h, but so as to slide up and down therein freely. Upon the top of the cup a concave recess or saucer, f, is formed, through the bottom of which the holes 6 are made, just outside of the tube m. A conical-shaped passage, a, extends from the chamber 0 in the lower end of the part A up into the upper part, which passage may be closed by the slight upward movement of the cup and valve. I v

The operation of our invention is as follows The parts of the device being all in place, as shown in Fig. l, and the burner secured to the gas-pipe, when the burner is not in use the tube or rests upon the upper end of the tube '6,- but if the stopcock be opened the gas flows up through the tube t out through the openings n in said tube, and out through those at 0 in the guide-tube m into the hollow pressurecup F, with sufficient force to move the said cup and valve a attached thereto upward, and operating to force the valve into the passage to close it. But, whatever the pressure ofthe gas in the pipes may be, (and it is always variable, according to the number of burners in use, and also according as the gas is more or less pnre,) if the number and size of the holes 0 remain the same, a certain given proportion of the gas beneath and within the cup escapes through the holes 0 to the chamber a above the cup, and creates. a proportional pressure downward upon the cup, operating to prevent the valve a from being forced up to entirely close the passage a, but keeping it so far open as to permit a sufficient quantity of gas to escape to the tip, to keep up a uniform and steady flame.

It is well known that in the combustion of illuminating-gas at the burners a liquid residuum is formed, which runs back into the burner and pipe, after clogging the stop-cock, and as this collects it forms, with the dust, which is also more or less deposited in the tip, a thick substance resembling tar, and

which, if not removed, stops up the passage through the burner; and in the so-called selfregulating gas-burners this substance soon collects sufficiently to completely stop the operation of the valve mechanism. This invention entirely obviates this trouble, as the liquid thus formed-when hot and first deposited being quite fluid--runs back from the tip into the conical passage a, and is collected upon the valve, runs down its stem and the conical top of the tube m into the drip-saucer f, and from thence down through the holes 6 down the outside of the tube 1n, and dropping into the reservoir 6, from whence it may be removed when occasion is required. If by chance any of this liquid, instead of being collected upon the valve a and its stem, should run entirely through the passage a, an annular lip, 11, at the lower end of the passage prevents it from'running down on the inside of the chamber 0 and clogging the valve, and causes it to drop down upon the conical top of the tube m, whence it is conducted to the reservoir 'i, as before.

It will be seen that as the pressure-cup F is made of the full size of its chamber, and is packed or sealed against the vertical wall of the chamber, the maximum amount of pressure-surface is obtained, and the operation of the cup is much more prompt and sensitive than when a packing of glycerine or other liquid is usedand the cup made smaller in diameter.

We are aware that various devices for regulating the flow of gas through a burner to the tip have been heretofore made and used,

and we claim nonein this specification and de-, scription irrespective of our construction and arrangement thereof; but having thus described our invention, what we claim as new 1. In an improved gas-burner, the combination of the perforated or slotted tube 1, the perforated guide-tube m, the valve a, operating to open or close the passage a, and the pressure-cup F, all substantially as described.

2. In a gas-burner, the combination of the tube m, the valve (1, the passage a, and dripsaucer f, whereby the liquid residuum resulting from the combustion of the gas is collected fromthe outflowing-aperture above the valve and conducted to a place of deposit in the reservoir 6 below the valve mechanism, substantiallyas described.

3. The combination of the tube m, provided with a conical top, and the perforated dripsaucer f, whereby any liquid residuum which is deposited upon said conical part is conducted directly into the reservoir t", substantially as setforth.

4. In animproved gas-burner, the combination of the cup-chamber, having a vertical wall, h, the tube t, the packing pressure-cup F, the perforated drip-saucer f, the perforated guidetube 122, valve a, and passage a, all substantially as and for the purposes described.

CHARLES G. CURTIS.

. GEORGE CURTIS.

Witnesses:

GEORGE F. WILDMAN, WILLIAM C. WILDMAN. 

